The growing demand for food worldwide has helped push the price of many
commodities to record levels. Besides demand, prices are influenced by other
factors such as weather patterns and pollutants that can affect crop yields. At
the University of Illinois in Urbana, researchers are studying the effects
pollutants have on crop growth. As VOA's Kane Farabaugh reports, the researchers
say they can accurately predict future carbon levels in the atmosphere and in
the world's farm fields.
It's planting season for corn and soybeans in the United States. For Amy
Betzelberger, the time of year is familiar.
Amy grew up on a farm near a small town in Illinois a few hours away from this
field. Growing crops is a family tradition.
"We've lived on that same farm for over 150 years, so I actually grew up, you
know, playing in the soybeans, playing the pasture, and learned at a very early
age not to go out in the cornfield once ...